The Nissan Micra is an automobile produced by Nissan. It is known in Japan and Taiwan as the Nissan March. It is built since 1982 and has had three distinct model generations.

The original Micra, framename K10, was introduced in October 1982 as a competitor to the highly successful Honda City, was intended to replace the Cherry as the company's competitor in the supermini segment, as the Cherry model itself had progressively become larger with each successive generation. It was introduced in the European market in 1983 and in Canada in 1984. Although Nissan were slowly phasing out the Datsun name, a small "Datsun" appeared on the tailgate for the first two years, and in some European markets, the car was known as the "Datsun-Nissan Micra". The Micra was initially available with an extremely refined all aluminium MA10S SOHC engine. The Datsun badges had disappeared completely by the end of 1984.

Indeed, though that engine won’t be introduced to Europe until 2011 – when it does it will make 96bhp and, combined with a stop-start system, only produce 95g/km CO2. Without the stop-start system or direct injection, the N/A European version produces 79bhp and achieves 115g/km. And with a different compression ratio and different fuel, the Thai engine has a negligible 1bhp less and emits 120g/km CO2.

We just hope the European engine, especially in supercharged guise, will be better. We were hoping for something smooth and sweet spinning, but the new 1.2 actually feels rough and rather restrained, and despite the kerbweight the March is pretty slow in any gear.

Speaking of which, the engine is mated to either a five-speed manual (which is notchy, noisy and has a long throw) or a CVT, which is much better. The CVT ‘box is all new, a boon around town, and without any of the whine that usually accompanies such gearboxes.